This was an odd, old-fashioned sort of book that didn’t feel right for its time (it was written in the 1970s). But of course Marigold, the principal character, has been brought up in a very old-fashioned way. She is very naïve and likeable, but my one quibble is that despite her upbringing, this innocence seems unlikely in an intelligent child who has attended a normal comprehensive for several years. It is a story about not fitting in but more than that it is a story of first love and what I really liked about it were the twists – who is in love with who and what happens in the end.

I enjoyed this so I'm putting it in to my first Fiction Bookbox which is being sent out tomorrow.

Took this book from wilksie's book box

RELEASE NOTES:

Going to a fellow BCer as its on her wish list!

Hope you havent got it :o)

A wonderful book and a wonderful rabck suprise from caffcaff.

I just want my daughter to be a tad older so she can read it too.

Thank you so much

I had lunch with a friend recently and the subject of Jane Gardam came up. My friend had not read her but had had her highly recommended so I will pass this one on to her .

started reading this book several years ago then somehow mislayed.just resurfaced and read it in one sitting! really evoked a place and a time now gone but the emotional growth is timeless really liked it. now need to release this as sat still too long!!

I have just found this book:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3114737/

So I came into the Starbucks here in Jesmond and made a journal entry just a few moments ago. I'm sitting in a window seat and if you've ever been in here you'll know there's that badly placed counter with a ledge on the back. I looked up from my tablet and saw this book on it, thought, is that a travelling book sticker? Well, blow my lips off, so it is! Two books in one day and I'm a happy camper. I shall read and release.

Thanks for the free book, Folks.

I would have read this in one go but I had to repeatedly stop because I was laughing so hard. Right from the start, that bit about the teacher who cannot face forward, and later the bit where Bilge finds she's walked right through the house… these things will never leave me. Gardam has a way of making me know what something must look like without actually describing it.

I also loved the Cinderella set-up. I grew up watching Star Wars (my name's Luke, so you can see what my parents had just seen, back in 1978. Could have been worse. They could have been Tolkien fans), so love finding this myth reused, and reused so well here with the twisted Fairy Godmother / Merlin character in Grace and the unexpected farce of the ending.

Amazingly, I had never heard of Gardam. I'm relatively well informed about writers, but never a whisper. Who's in charge here? Why isn't her name being bellowed from rooftops? Why didn't they make me read this at school? I googled her halfway through, only to find that she's one of the most respected writers working today. This may be my fault… Recently I've been putting some of the books I've read over the last few years onto that site Library Thing. They have this thing where you can see stats about your reading habits and I noticed that most of the people I read are European men. Of the women, the vast majority I had discovered because some kind Bookcrosser had set her book free. I think I have been subconsciously choosing books by people who are like me. Thank God for Bookcrossing!

I took this to the monthly meet at the Fox & Raven. Great to meet you.

This is the second copy of Bilgewater on my bookcrossing books. It was the one of the first Jane Gardam's I read and I was happy to find her and I am a big fan of Shena Mackay and I have read most of hers - Gardam has a similar black humour.

Took this from the local Fox and Raven meeting. Welcome Lukerik. This will be one of five books to continue its journey on the Essex/Suffolk circuit.

At the Colchester local meeting

Found this in The Layer Fox, Layer de la Haye.
A gentle read with some lovely characterisation.